New International Version | King James Bible |
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, |
2"Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? | 2Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? |
3Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? | 3Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? |
4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. | 4Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. |
5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. | 5For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. |
6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. | 6Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. |
7"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? | 7Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? |
8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? | 8Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? |
9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? | 9What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? |
10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. | 10With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. |
11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? | 11Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? |
12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, | 12Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, |
13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? | 13That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? |
14"What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? | 14What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, | 15Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. |
16how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water! | 16How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? |
17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, | 17I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; |
18what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors | 18Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: |
19(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them): | 19Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. |
20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him. | 20The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. |
21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. | 21A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. |
22He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword. | 22He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. |
23He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. | 23He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. |
24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, | 24Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. |
25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, | 25For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. |
26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. | 26He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: |
27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, | 27Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. |
28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. | 28And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. |
29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. | 29He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. |
30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. | 30He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. |
31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. | 31Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. |
32Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish. | 32It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. |
33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. | 33He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. |
34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. | 34For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. |
35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit." | 35They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. |
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